Review of The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom

My dog Sansa enjoying a relaxing read.

The first book I read in 2014 was The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom. This book was recommended to me by gooodreads.com and I received it as a Christmas present. For the first half of this book I could not put it down. I was reading it every chance I had. But, I enjoyed it less and less as I got towards the end.

What I Liked
The background of this book is fascinating. Grissom and her husband bought and restored a plantation tavern in Virginia. This ended up being the inspiration for the book. She takes details found from local history as well as items plucked from her imagination while spending time on her property. I really like this premise and inspiration and the first half of the book is done so well. There are great characters and details and you just want to keep reading. The main character, Lavinia, was orphaned on her passage over from Ireland and ends up at a tobacco plantation in Virginia. She lives in the kitchen house and is cared for by Belle, the master's illegitimate black daughter. There are intriguing secrets and and twists that keep you wanting more.

What I Didn't Like
Lavinia is painted as an innocent girl. Because of this certain people in her life keep important information from her. This is a well-known theme for novels. Hide the truth to protect someone, someone finds out part of the truth and makes assumptions that are worse than the original truth. As a result of her innocence or ignorance she makes a series of bad decisions. She continues to make bad decision after bad decision. It becomes grating and frustrating. You want her to grow up and take responsibility. But she ambles through the second half of the novel right into the tragedy that's teased at the beginning. All of the unhappy events that happened throughout the book had wrung my heart and worn me down so much I had trouble caring about the tragedy at all. Done differently, I think the story could have built up better to the main event and it would have been a much more entertaining and engaging read.

Recommend? 
I gave this book 3 stars. As disappointing as the second half was, I live for books that have me hooked like the beginning of this book did. It's a thrill and one of the reasons I love to read. I wouldn't recommend to rush out and read this book, but if you happen upon it at a good price, give it a read!